Vice-Premier Louis Joxe and two other French Cabinet members declared today that France’s policy toward Israel remained “as friendly and close as ever before.” The assurances were given in rebuttal to a report in a leading French newspaper that the French Cabinet decided last week to halt active aid to Israel.
Vice-Premier Joxe, Interior Minister Roger Frey and Jean Sainteny, Minister for War Veterans and War Victims, made their statements at a meeting with Salomon Friederich, secretary general of the Alliance France-Israel. The report, which was published by L’Aurore, also said that the atmosphere at the Cabinet meeting was “unfriendly to Israel,” which was reportedly blamed for the current Middle East tensions.
The three Ministers assured Friederich that the report did not have the slightest foundation in fact and that the Government’s policy toward Israel was unchanged. L’Aurore itself, meanwhile, retreated slightly from its report. The newspaper asserted today that President de Gaulle “has clarified” his policy toward Israel. “This policy will perhaps be unchanged as far as fundamentals are concerned but surely will be less showy,” todays report stated.
It was learned reliably that French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville will be a guest of honor Wednesday at a dinner given by Israeli Ambassador Walter Eytan, one of a series of dinners at which French Ministers and key French personalities have been the ambassador’s guests.
The Israel Ambassador conferred for nearly an hour yesterday with Vice-Premier Joxe. The main subjects reportedly raised were the West German-Egyptian diplomatic crisis and problems arising from Arab plans to divert the headwaters of the Jordan River to deny the waters to Israel. Mr. Eytan also will meet with de Murville for an anticipated discussion of the Harriman talks.
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